Articles / Blog
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 (ESV)
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” - 2 Samuel 7:12-13 (ESV)
In 1 Kings 8:22-53, Solomon stands up before the people of Israel and dedicates the newly built temple to the LORD. Solomon’s prayer was spoken long ago, right after building a physical temple for God; but, today, we are building a spiritual temple for God. The church is described as a “spiritual house” in 1 Peter 2:4-8 (NASB95). We are collectively built into “a holy temple… into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22, NASB95). And we are individually described as the temple of God: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19, NASB95), and “…what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people”” (2 Corinthians 6:16, NASB95). So, what might Solomon’s temple dedication prayer look like, if it were spoken by us?
